Kharar poetess builds a literary bridge between two Punjabs

Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 17

Books should be written in both Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi scripts of Punjabi to bridge the hiatus in literary ties between the two Punjabs on either side of the Radcliffe Line. Kharar-based poetess Deep Gill Panglian said this during a visit to the Punjabi Bhavan here. 

The poetess believes books in Punjabi should be written in both scripts so as not to deprive the readers of good literature on both sides of the border.

That is the reason why her first book of poetry, ‘Akhran da Rath’, has verses in both Punjabi and Shahmukhi. She says writing it just in Gurmukhi was somewhat insufficient because there are a large number of lovers of Punjabi in Lehnda Punjab on the other side of the border as well. Not well versed in Shahmukhi, she took the help of Navdeep Jhuneer, whom she met on Facebook and became friends with. Jhuneer transcribed her poetry from Gurmukhi to Shahmukhi which was edited and proofread by Irshad Sandhu, a litterateur of Lehnda Punjab. 

But even while page-setting the book, she made sure that Shahmukhi was written parallel to Gurmukhi for her poetic verses on the same page. “I wanted Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi verses of my poems written side by side, and not on separate pages, not only to signify that it is not a translation but also to make it easy for everyone to read and learn both scripts,” she says. 

“I also designed the cover of the book with the border design comprising alphabets of Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi with letters bejewelled together,” she smiles.

Her talent is not restricted to poetry, as she has made short films, acted and written scripts too. Her film, “Ramu Ki Bibi”, has been screened at the film festival in Mumbai. “I do not want to restrict myself to any one genre to express myself, whether it is acting or script writing and film-making or poetry,” she says.

The poetess says she would join a course to learn Shahmukhi at Punjabi University. “There is a treasure of Punjabi literature in Shahmukhi. I want to read it,” she says. 

Deep has written her second book of poetry, but this time she would write the Shahmukhi part herself. “After becoming proficient in Shahmukhi, I shall complete my second book myself,” she beams.